A JobsCentral online survey which was conducted from August to September 2012 found three in four employers performing online background checks on job candidates, with LinkedIn and Facebook the most common channels, followed by search engines.

63.9 per cent of these said they would reject job-seekers that were untruthful in their resumes or interviews, with approximately 57 per cent frowning upon bad-mouthing previous employers and/or sharing confidential company data.

Says Michelle Lim, Chief Operating Officer of JobsCentral Group that traditional reference and background checks on job candidates have always been practiced by many employers and employers are merely using another tool towards the same purpose of ensuring the best hiring decision possible by looking up their candidates’ social media activities.

She adds, “While job-seekers may find it unfair that their personal life is being dragged into the hiring equation, rather than bemoan the loss of privacy, it would be better to exercise good judgement in all social media engagement and make an effort to utilise available privacy settings. That is the reality of living in the age of the Internet.”

The survey also revealed that most employers don’t spend more than a minute screening resumes, with most employers (62.1 per cent) spending less than 60 seconds looking through a resume and only 4.8 per cent of recruiters spending more than five minutes to screen an application.

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